For this assignment, you will have the freedom to choose whatever real-world scenarios you wish (as long as they are realistic and can be justified to me in the writing portions of the assignment). This means that you can pick what city you would live in, what career you would have, etc. It is important to complete each stage in order and fully document each stage and the thought process behind your actions.
For this assignment, students will complete the following phases:
On indeed.com, or another job posting website, locate an open position that you could (reasonably) obtain within the next several years. Don’t pick a CEO position that requires 25 years of experience and starts out making $500,000 per year. For this phase, complete the following:
Provide the link to the job posting, so that I can read about the job while grading your assignment.
Provide the annual starting salary, if it is given. If the posting does not have a salary, that is okay. There are websites where you can locate the “average” starting salary for the job, which will also let you sort by state. Provide the source where you located the average salary, and assume that is what you will have.
Provide a short summary of your reasoning behind these choices. Why did you pick this job? Why did you pick this location? Include any other information that you feel is relevant (at least one paragraph).
Decide on a vehicle that you would purchase. Note that if you choose to live somewhere that offers public transportation, you can choose to opt-out of this phase of the assignment. However, again, be REASONABLE! If you live in Williamsburg, KY, you probably aren’t going to choose to not own a vehicle. Also, if you choose to go for public transportation, you have to include an estimate of that cost in your budget when you get to that phase. Taxi fees, bus fares, or a MetroCard is still an expense that you have to account for every month/year. For this section, complete the following:
Provide the link to the car you choose to purchase, or alternatively, provide the link for the pricing estimate for public transit.
Also, include information on whether or not you are trading in a vehicle, and look up the MSRP and trade-in value both for your new vehicle and your trade-in. Based on this information, you will tell me what amount you think you could pay that is lower than the sticker price.
Use the dealership website calculators to estimate your monthly payment for the vehicle. Apply the debt safety ratio rule to this assignment to make sure that you aren’t exceeding 20% of your take-home income, which you should know based on the career and salary that you picked in phase 1.
Provide a short summary of the reasoning behind your choice. Did you go with used or new? Does it come with a warranty? Would you go with a shorter or longer payment period? Did you decide to lease instead of purchase? Were there any specifics on the vehicle that you chose for a certain reason? For example, if you chose to live up north, did you buy something that could travel in snow? If you plan to commute a long distance from work, did you find something with good gas mileage? You might even combine this information with phase three and see how far away the house you purchase will be from your job location. Be as detailed as possible (at least half of a page).
For phase three, you will locate a place to live. You have the option of either renting or purchasing a home. If you decide to purchase a home, you can assume that you have already started building your credit score and saved a REASONABLE amount for a down payment (no more than $10,000).
Use a website such as Zillow to locate a place to live. You can sort on Zillow between rental and homes to purchase.
Use the rule of thumb that your total monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 30% of your gross income. To be more thorough, you can also include your car payment with the rule of thumb that your total debt should not exceed 38% of gross income with mortgage and car payments combined.
Use the mortgage calculator on Zillow (or another website) to list the “estimated” rental or mortgage price for the home you pick.
Locate the exact location of your job from phase one, and the exact location of the home you pick. How many miles are between them?
Provide a summary explaining your thought process on this section, and include any other relevant information
Now that you have a job, a place to live, and transportation sorted out, you will now create a the income statement & monthly budget. The statement format will follow the formats used in chapter 2.
You can include any information you’d like, but you have to explain it. If you want to leave off information for investments, or cable, etc. you can do so. Also, research your answers to this to give real-world estimates for things such as groceries, entertainment, insurance, etc. It doesn’t have to be exact, but it needs to make sense.
Include the summary explaining where you came up with the numbers you used on the statements.
